Reading At Home - Supporting You
Here are some tips on how to support your child with reading at home, from our first Reading Workshop that took place earlier this year. - Why Reading Matters
From the DFE Reading Framework 2023 (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1186732/The_reading_framework.pdf )
•…pupils who read regularly report heightened levels of social and emotional wellbeing.
•Reading allows readers to adopt new perspectives, develop empathy and become more socially conscious.
•Crucially, being unable to read significantly narrows the range of work and life opportunities a person can access.
•In social terms, better reading might enhance opportunities for individuals to become more engaged politically, increase their tolerance and involve them in their communities more effectively.
Tips for Reading at Home
How to help a struggling reader | Oxford Owl - YouTube
Top Tips from the DFE!
1.Encourage your child to read – just a few minutes a day can have a BIG impact. 20 minutes is optimum.
2.Read aloud regularly – read to your child every day – make it a special time: a cosy place; enjoy a treat; add funny voices to bring the book to life!
3.Encourage choice – follow their interests and look beyond stories: magazines, poetry, non-fiction, comics, recipes, online blogs…
4.Read Together – read as a family, read the same thing, read different things and share your experiences.
5.Create a comfortable environment – relax, get calm and get cosy.
6.Use your local library: not just books but ebooks and audiobooks.
7.Talk about books – share what you read, what you think of it, how you feel when you read it.
8.Bring Reading To Life – try a recipe from the book, play and pretend to be the characters, explore the background of the story.
9.Make it active – acting, activities, design your own cover/movie poster…
10.Let it suit them – read for as long as they can keep it up; read what excites and interests them; read at a time that works best for them.
Help with reading a word…
- Give it a try -sound it out with your phonics: e.g. ‘happening”: h-a-pp-e-n-ing.
- Well done, good try – in that word those letter make this sound… e.g. bridge = j
- Good try; this is how that words sounds…now you try!
Help with new words
- So that word means…(tell them but keep it simple).
- Well, what’s going on in the sentence – maybe we can work it out together…
- I can’t remember what that means – let’s look it up!
Helping Reading flow…
- That was great reading – now, let’s re-read that bit – I bet you can do it even better!
- How do you think they’re feeling here? How could we re-read that to show how they feel? (Show them maybe and have them repeat?).
Building and Checking Understanding…
TOP TIP: Always try and model an example first!
Predicting – what will happen next?
- Based on what’s going on, what do you think will happen later?
- I think this will happen because we read that… what do you think?
Clarifying – clearing things up:
- Pretend to be confused – ask your child to make something clear for you, e.g.
- I’m confused, why did they do that?
- Why do you think they’re feeling ____?
- What, what just happened? I’m lost! Can you just clear up what’s going on?
Summarising – summing it all up:
- As simply as possible, can you sum up what just happened on this page/in this chapter/in this bit?
- So far, what can you tell me has happened?
- Can you give me some facts you’ve just learned about….
Resourses
Reading Support Video – Jean Gross (teacher and child psychologist) - https://youtu.be/0ga5KIdBXMg
Free Reading support pack from Oxford Owl “Raise A Reader” - https://fdslive.oup.com/www.oup.com/oxed/children/Raise-A-Reader-Parent-Pack-Digital.pdf
10 Top Tips for Parents to help encourage reading at home: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/10-top-tips-to-encourage-children-to-read/10-top-tips-to-encourage-children-to-read
Raise A Reader – helping with reading and questioning bookmark for parents.